Standing in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, Bobbie Coray is happily accepting handshakes accompanied by comments like "good effort" and "nice try."
Those are words usually reserved for losers, but the Democrat from Cache County is taking them as though she beat Rep. Jim Hansen."I didn't ever think it was important to win . . . it was more important to me to run a good race," Coray said. "I had a wonderful time."
Her buoyancy belied the numbers early Wednesday: Seven-term Republican Congressman Jim Hansen would return for an eighth term by a 65-35 percent margin; Coray wouldn't win a single county.
Hansen now claims the title of the longest-serving House member from Utah, longevity he hopes will win him chairmanship of the House Natural Resources Committee.
If that occurs, Utahns could expect Hansen to push an agenda tilted toward mining, ranching and mining interests. "Some of our laws have become so extreme that they're taking away the economy of the West," he said.
If he can't gain chairmanship of the committee, he could become chairman of one of its subcommittees - National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.
"I'd like to see modifications in the Endangered Species Act and some of our wilderness legislation . . . I wouldn't want to do away with them, just make them less extreme," he said.
Will Hansen seek a ninth term? He isn't saying. "That's like asking a new mother if she's ready to have another child. I've just been through a gut-wrenching campaign."
However, he said if Utahns decide term limits should apply to their congressional representatives, he'll step down after this term.
Coray isn't sure of her future in politics. She celebrates the fact that her campaign isn't in debt and that she spent only $2,000 of her own money. "This was an impossible race from the very beginning, everyone said. But we reached some goals that not a lot of other candidates even get close to," she said.
In fact, the Coray campaign was in high spirits last Thursday, believing Hansen had given their candidate a boost with his derogatory public comments, specifically his "I'll bash her to death" statement.
That fodder combined with a media splash powered by $300,000 in fund-raising spread optimism. "It felt good for a while," Coray said. Then weekend polls revealed that Coray was still down by 30 percentage points.
Forgive Hansen if he gloats a little, he says. He's now won 16 straight elections from that for Farmington City Council to a state representative to congressman. "I guess that's considered successful, if I can say so."
Coray, his seventh unsuccessful congressional challenger, now stands in the hotel parking lot with a question on her mind. "I don't know what it takes. Do you?"
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1st District
County Coray Hansen
Beaver 781 1,167
Box Elder 3,726 7,932
Cache 6,836 11,506
Davis 16,761 37,012
Iron 2,092 4,649
Juab 788 1,377
Millard 1,080 2,970
Rich 217 524
Salt Lake 88 90
Tooele 3,465 4,117
Washington 4,559 10,401
Weber 17,190 22,995
Total 57,583 104,740
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Trend holds with Hansen's victory
Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, has seen three close races in his eight congressional campaigns, but never two in a row. This trend held for 1994, with Hansen winning comfortably after a landslide two years ago.
YEAR HANSEN DEMOCRAT
1980 52% 48% Gunn McKay (incumbent)
1982 63% 37% Stephen Dirks
1984 71% 28% Milt Abrams
1986 52% 48% Gunn McKay
1988 60% 40% Gunn McKay
1990 52% 44% Kenley Brunsdale
1992 65% 28% Ron Holt
1994 65% 35% Bobbie Coray
Percentages may not add up to 100, because of third-party candidates.